THE SECOND STEP IS - MANAN, THE CONTEMPLATION.... The second step is manan, contemplation – after hearing what has been said, to contemplate over it. To contemplate over what has been said after hearing it in its authenticity is the first condition for contemplation. But if you choose what you like and contemplate over only that, it is not contemplation, it is only deception. So the first condition for contemplation is that you hear without saying yes or no – no condemnation, no praise, no acceptance, no rejection, no nothing; no evaluation, no judgment – neither in favor nor against. You only hear silently and naturally what has been said, and let it sink into the deepest corner of your heart so that there may be an acquaintance with it, because contemplation can happen only about that with which one is acquainted. This is the difference between thinking and contemplation. Thinking is done about something with which we are not properly acquainted. Thinking is an intellectual activity with the new – mental gymnastics. Contemplation is a reflection on something that has been absorbed, that has been taken deep within oneself. There is a great difference between the two. Thinking contains conflict within itself, contemplation contains sympathy. In thinking there is confrontation, in contemplation there is reflection. And these are big differences. Thinking means you are fighting with something. In thinking there is an inner struggle. Whatever you are thinking about, you are fighting with it; an inner struggle is going on. You line up all your past memories and all the past thoughts that go against it. If you are still defeated you accept, but in that acceptance a pain, a bite, a piercing thorn is experienced. This acceptance is out of your helplessness. There is no joy happening in this acceptance; your inner flower does not blossom due to this acceptance, but withers. So because of all the thinking the thinkers are doing all over the world, you will not see the joyousness of a buddha on their faces. Why, what is the difference? You will not find the pleasant personality of a Mahavira in the thinkers. On the faces of thinkers you will see the wrinkles of anxiety, not the flowers of contemplation. On the forehead of a thinker the wrinkles will go on increasing with time. Every single line of the forehead will be profoundly pronounced – after all he has worked hard his whole life. But that which happens to a Buddha or a Mahavira, that flowering will not be seen. Thought is burdensome, you are bent over with it. A thinker looks anxious. There is no qualitative difference between thinking and worrying. All thinking is a form of worrying. A restlessness is hidden behind it, a tension, because there is an inner struggle, a conflict, a battle. So a thinker by the time he grows old is bent over by the weight, by the sheer weight of his thoughts. A contrary phenomenon happens with Buddha and Mahavira. As they go on growing older something within them goes on becoming younger; their look of freshness increases. This is the difference between thinking and contemplation. OSHO FROM FINGER POINTING TO THE MOON.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 17:13:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015